


Maxed Link

by BranHowe



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Rescue Missions, Slice of Life, Tartarus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 15:25:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13837614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BranHowe/pseuds/BranHowe
Summary: The very first time I played Persona 3 was on the Portable version and I had the unfortunate luck of falling in love with Junpei, needless to say I ended up friendzoned hardcore.Here's the way I found to cope with the feeling of rejection I got. :,)





	1. Chapter 1

I had never made chocolates before but since I was spending time at the Home Economics club that Saturday with Fuuka I thought it would be nice to give it a try (I mean, I already mastered muffins and cupcakes so it shouldn’t be a problem at all). We were about to eat them but we thought that it was best to give them away to our friends, so we made some cute little bags with chocolates. Mine were blue with a simple lace ribbon and I thought they looked rather cute. 

-“This is a good practice for Valentine’s” -I said beaming at our creations. Fuuka giggled and agreed. 

-“But we still would give them away to our friends so it makes no difference” -She stared at me for a moment and then bluntly asked -“Do you have anyone you like?”

Fuuka had become more and more confident but still her question took me by surprise. Blushing wildly all I managed to say was -“W...What makes you think that?” 

-“Ah, so you do!” -Was Fuuka’s words to my reaction and giggled more -“It’s alright, I won’t push you to tell me” -Her eyes were kind and earnest. -“But when you are ready to tell me, I’ll be happy to encourage you.”

I smiled warmly towards her and nodded. To be honest, between those friends, I had been thinking more often of one person in particular and I knew that I wanted him to be closer than what we were at the moment. 

\---

After packing up the little giveaways and the rest of the chocolate that hadn’t been used, I started my way to the dorms. Lost in my thoughts, I was approached by Junpei on the way to Paulownia Hall. 

-”Hey there cutie, what’cha up to?” -He said on his usual cheery voice but I didn’t expect him so he startled me. -“Whoa, easy, it’s just me.” 

He beamed at me. He looked very happy actually. 

-”Did something good happen?” I asked. 

-”Not yet, but I bet it will! I have a really great feeling about it. Say, you wanna go get something? Today it’s on me.” 

I gratefully accepted, since I was starving. Tasting chocolates is good, but it’s never as good as a warm bowl of ramen. He asked the special for both of us as always and we chatted about many random things. It had been a really long time since I was able to go out with him like this, it was funny but time after time that I had tried to approach him it looked like other people intervened. There was also that time when Junpei met Chidori… I still felt guilty sometimes of how jealous of her I had been before she passed away. But I really didn’t want to remember that. Today was another day, and he had come looking for me. So I was pretty glad. 

On the way back home I spotted a sale on a stationery store. I remembered that I had seen a cute origami box as a wrapping for chocolates on a magazine before so I asked Junpei to wait me for a second. 

-”I didn’t know you were into that, but it does look like something you’d do. Heck, actually it’s almost like anything is something you can do.” -Said Junpei looking at the nicely cut sheets of papers. 

-”Do you like it?” I asked. 

-”I guess, a little bit. But it’s best if someone else does it for me.” He grabbed a set with a traditional crescent pattern in red with blue and brown accents. I took a golden one and matched it. 

-”Nice taste, it looks great.” He said and gave them to me. It didn’t take much to decide on them and after buying the two sets we walked home. 

-”What’ll you do with that?” He asked. 

-”It’s a secret!” I answered back grinning and running away to the dorm’s entrance. 

-”Hey, that’s not fair! I wanna know!” He called at me, and went to reach me.

We entered noisily into the lounge but one single glance of Mitsuru-senpai, who was reading a book on the sofa, froze us. 

-”We’re back...” I said softly. 

-”Welcome back” she answered. 

It was a bit embarrassing to admit that even though my courage had been building up slowly throughout the year, there were certain things that I could not confront yet. After taking our stuff into the bedrooms, we moved towards the kitchen and started rummaging around looking for something to drink. 

-”Whew, that was scary, I thought I’d freeze on the spot” -said Junpei, trembling and hugging himself like it was the middle of winter. I giggled and poured some snacks on a bowl to eat while I made the rice and curry. 

-”Nothing fancy today, eh?” -Asked Junpei. 

At first, as there was no one to cook at the dorm each one of us made their own meals, soon we noticed that it was far economic to make a meal for all instead of each buying their stuff. So we started taking turns on cooking and Yukari was the treasurer until Fuuka arrived and took her place, since she said her food was still not good enough to eat, a statement to which I silently agreed. So if one wanted something else and personal we’d get that by ourselves. 

-”Yeah, I’ve spent too much time on the kitchen already.” 

-”Eh! I wonder why!” -Said Junpei with one of those looks on his eyes that clearly said he wouldn’t stop pestering me until I gave in and told him what he wanted. I looked back with the eyes that said I wouldn’t give in for even an inch, but that didn’t stop the battle.

-”You made chocolates at the Home Economics classroom and were making a fuss about next valentine’s, you can’t deceive me ‘cause I went past there and heard you! Now spit it out and tell me who you’re gonna give them to!” 

-”They’re gonna be for everyone, I never made them thinking of a single person.” -I stated as firmly as I could afford and used the curry as an excuse to avoid his piercing eyes and look directly into the pot pretending that it was requiring all of my attention.

-”Aw, C’me on! Okay, let’s do this, I start with a bunch of names and you just have to nod me when I reach the right guy. Please, don’t thank me, I know how shy of a girl you can be at some stuff.” -His self-sufficient tone really annoyed me but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. 

-”Not even if you said the right one I’d nod!” -I retorted as stubbornly as I could. 

-”Ah! I knew it! There IS someone!” 

I have to admit that I had been caught red handed on that one so I only looked away from him with a snort but my blushing might have given me away because he pushed me even more.

-”Well, I know some girls are very picky about this Valentine’s stuff but I’d never thought you’d like it as well. Well, you’re a festival lover so maybe it applies the same way with this stuff? What kind of guy is it? I bet I know him, it must be Sanada-senpai, he’s the one that gets all the girls crazy and you spend a lot of time with him.” 

-”I spend a lot of time with you too and I don’t hear you saying your own name” -I retorted.

-”Yeah well, that is that and this is this I say. This is about who you like, not who you spend your time with.” 

I knew he had been feeling rather awkward since he knew I liked him but maybe this was his way of helping me think of another more ‘decent guy’ than himself. I sighed loudly so that he could hear my complaint but it didn’t affect him at all. 

That is the problem when you get to know your friends a bit too well, you know when they are serious but I was rather enjoying the chat and he had noticed it. Akihiko-senpai was really attractive indeed, but I had always thought that for some reason he tended to feel uneasy when he was close to a girl. Or at least that was the impression he gave me, there were certain moments when we were together where he specially seemed to have trouble to keep up the conversation and got embarrassed, I found those times to be rather funny but I had never laughed at him because I thought he might get insulted. 

I don’t think I stayed silent for a lot of time but it was apparent that my mind had drifted away because Junpei had fell silent looking at me as well. 

-”Say, Junpei, what do you think about Valentine’s?” 

-”Me? Well, it’s not bad if you get chocolates from a girl. But you look like a loser if you don’t get any so I don’t like it a lot... Besides, the only chocolates I’d like to get are one’s I’ll never receive...” 

I had stepped on a landmine without notice and the room began to feel stuffy, it hadn’t been my intention but I just couldn’t try to casually wave it off. I cannot tell how much time we spent in that awkward situation, it could have been five minutes but it felt like a whole hour. Finally I reached a small plate and took a bit of the curry to taste it. 

-”It’s good!” -I said in a low voice. 

-”What? Is it? Lemme taste...” Junpei had reached close to me and was attempting to get my little plate with what was left of the curry in it. 

-”Hey! Get off! It’s for tomorrow, you can’t have any right now!” I moved my hand to the opposite side trying to get it as far away from him as I could. 

-”Aw please, just a little bit! All I want is what’s in the plate, come on, you know I love curry!” 

We struggled for a bit dangerously in front of the stove but as he is taller than me he ended up getting the plate and eating the morsels of potato with curry. 

-”Aaaah! I can’t believe you! It’s for tomorrow, I told you!” 

-”Eeeeh! It is really good! You did great with this!” -I still was feeling angry but I loved being complimented about my cooking so I couldn’t stop blushing because of the encountered feelings while he laughed at me. 

-”You two look like a pair of newlyweds!” Yukari stated while entering the place with Akihiko-senpai, who was looking at us rather reproachfully.

-”Ah, Yukaricchi! Come on, come on, this tastes great!” 

-”Wha...! No! Don’t pay attention to him, he’s eating tomorrow’s dinner!” I started to struggle again to get the plate back while he laughed heartily at me. 

-”You two, stop making a ruckus in the kitchen, it’s not something a grown up would do.” 

Akihiko-senpai was generally calm looking but at the moment it was more like he was containing himself from a burst of anger, which was something rather scary. Both Junpei and I stopped our game and while giving up excuses I finished up cooking the meal and Junpei left for his room. Even Yukari was spirited away from there due to his mood.

Akihiko-senpai stayed at the kitchen almost as if he wanted to make sure none of us started again. Even after Junpei had left he looked crossed and uneasy. After doing the dishes I approached him with a glass of tea.

-”Uhm... What’s wrong?” -He looked at me as if he didn’t really know me before answering back. 

-”No, I... Well, it doesn’t really matter... It’s just that I never thought this would happen but as I think about it more and more...” 

I really didn’t understand what he was talking about but I remembered that when I started making a relation with him, there were times he used to speak out loud as if he was talking to himself so maybe this was one of those times where he had to make up his mind before explaining a thing. 

-”You know? I have been training with heavier weights, it will be quite helpful when fighting against the shadows.” 

His rather obvious change of the subject got me unguarded but it was helpful. I standed up quite suddenly with a loud ”Aaaah!” that startled him. 

-”Senpai, get ready, we must go to Tartarus tonight!” And after leaving him I went out searching for Fuuka, remembering that Theo had called that same morning to tell me that there were two people inside Tartarus. Topic that I had forgotten at that moment of the day since it had not been a pressing matter on my mind, I could only go at midnight into the tower in the end. 

The movement in Tartarus was rather uneasy that night, but I had to scan like twenty floors because there were two people missing between them according to what Theo had informed me before. Since I really didn’t want to stay that much time in it (nor that I could, in the end we just had an hour) my first choice for the party was Koro-chan, he was a dog and could help us find them faster. Maybe it looked like I would set off right away because Junpei stepped on my way.

-”You can’t go on just with Koro, you know you need me!” 

-”I wasn’t gonna leave without you, moron.” -I said smiling and then addressed Akihiko-senpai. 

-”Senpai, your persona excels in thunder-based attacks. Would you come tonight?” 

-”Of course, let’s do this.” -Was his simple answer. 

It was true that he was a great choice for those floors, but truth be told, I thought that he desperately needed to vent off some anger. 

We found the first person just after three floors and came back without a problem but this time now we had stepped up twelve floors without a sign. Unlike some other floors these were rather large, Akihiko-senpai was looking somber and for some reason the air was tense between us, Junpei was not making his usual comments and even Koro-chan felt that something was wrong with us. That, added to the fatigue made us sit down for a second to regain some breath. 

-”Did you hear that?” -I asked, hearing some sort of footsteps getting close. 

-”What? I can’t hear a thing. You sure you heard something?” -was Junpei’s answer. 

Akihiko-senpai’s answer was kind of the same as well. I said I’d go take a look while standing up. 

-”Don’t go too far, if something happens call us and we’ll be right there.” -Was Akihiko-senpai’s answer. 

At that moment I didn’t fall into account of the fact that his reply had been rather odd until much later, he usually was adamant about not getting separated but at that moment I was more worried about the steps. I walked slowly further down the hall and after giving a couple of turns following the steps I sat down and thought of Pharos, It would have been nice to have him by my side, but that was not possible anymore. I missed him and for some reason I began fantasizing about what sort of conversation we could have had at that place... 

_-”Pharos? What are you doing here?”_

_-”Don’t you remember? I’m always by your side.”_

I could have been taken aback since I rarely saw him outside the bedroom. 

_-”But how is it that I heard footsteps this time?”_

_-”You didn’t.”_ -Could have been his puzzle-like answer. 

Then it dawned on me that maybe all I really wanted to do is get away from that tiring situation. The Pharos I had imagined in my mind smiled with a conspiracy look. 

_-”There are also times when you unknowingly do things you couldn’t do otherwise I think.”_

I smiled back at him. 

_-”Yeah, you’re right. Thanks for showing me this.”_

_-”Well then, I shall be going.”_ -And he disappeared from my imagination like he always used to do. Despite knowing he wasn’t really there, I somehow felt that I was really close to him. 

I cannot really tell what sort of conversation they started while I was gone but when I came back the guys were facing each other having a strong argument. Koromaru was on his guard looking at them growling rather upset as well, as if their emotions were channelled through him. He was the first one to see me and went towards me with a pleading look. I started to pet him in order to calm him but apparently they still hadn’t seen me. Akihiko-senpai’s face was red in anger, something that I never imagined I’d ever see. 

-”In the end you would sell us all just for regaining her. You’re a traitor after all!”

-”You think you know everyone’s mind, right!? Well, I wouldn’t mind betraying you of all the others!” Junpei spatted back. 

-”What about our leader then, huh!? You’ll stop following her because of that...!” 

-”Don’t you even dare talk about her like that!” Junpei now definitely looked like wanting to engage in a fight. But then he took himself aback. 

-”Ok, fine. You want to hear me say it, right? Well then, so be it. I don’t care!” 

Akihiko-senpai, though angry, shot an eager look at Junpei. Junpei took a deep breathe and then... 

-”I don’t care about our leader one single bit! She could be gone tomorrow and I wouldn’t care at all!” 

Akihiko-senpai fell silent looking sharply at Junpei and all I could do was stare at them as if a bufu attack had frozen me, a sharp pain throbbing in my chest. 

A second later, Koro-chan barked and sensing something behind me I turned around to hit the shadow with my naginata, but I had been too late and the shadow threw me away to the place the guys were. Taken by surprise, the guys and I got a fairly good deal of attacks before we could get on our feet and come back at them, thankfully it all ended well and after a couple of media casts we were ready to keep on going. 

-”I told you to call us if anything happened, why you didn’t...” 

-”I got hit first and didn’t get much time!” -Was my answer, cutting into senpai’s lecturing speech. -”We better get going to the next floor fast before anything else happens, I’m tired of this.” 

For some reason it was me the one who was getting angrier now and it was obvious to the others. Thankfully we found the other missing person right at the next floor and went back to the dorm after taking them to the police. All of us were feeling upset on the way back home for very different reasons, so it wasn’t hard to avoid the rest of the group and I tried to look twice as tired in case Aigis or the others wanted to ask questions. Fortunately it looked that they had taken it as if we were just really tired so I felt bliss when I threw myself away onto my bed and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Next day was Sunday, there was no school that day. 

I was feeling very tired but had woken up too early and couldn’t go back to sleep. So I went down to the kitchen to grab something. After rummaging a little I got out the chocolate leftovers and took the milk from the fridge to make some hot chocolate. Akihiko-senpai went in. 

-”Morning...” He greeted me. 

-”Morning, senpai.” I answered back. 

-”It’s rare that you’ve woken up so early, it’s not even 6 o’clock.” 

-”What about you senpai? Seems like a pretty early hour as well for you.” I didn’t feel like chatting at all. 

-”I was training, but I heard some noise and went out to check.” 

-”Oh, I see...” -Was my distant answer. 

The air felt uncomfortable, but apparently Akihiko-senpai didn’t want to leave me alone.

-”Is that hot chocolate? It smells really good.” 

I took out a pair of mugs, some bread and butter and served him as well. 

-”It’s not good to start a workout so early on an empty stomach. They say chocolate is an energetic so please have some.” 

Akihiko-senpai took a piece of bread and his mug and started eating, he told me it was delicious but even with the warmth of his words and the cup I didn’t feel any better. He stared at me for a very long time while I was sipping my chocolate and then said -”You did some curry yesterday and said that it was for today... Don’t you have any plans?” 

-”Well, I’m not seeing anyone and it would make me feel uneasy to go out this day just like that...” -I sighed -”I mean, it’s not really a bad thing, but seeing so many friends out together does get me a little.” 

I kept on sipping my chocolate and when I was about to finish Akihiko-senpai asked me out for that day. He looked rather meekly at me while I was staring at him puzzled. 

-”Well, I don’t feel like staying today, so how about it?” 

I really felt like I didn’t have much time to make a decision so I accepted. 

-”Great, I’ll meet you at midday here at the lounge. Go back and sleep some more, you need it. I’ll clean up.” 

He hushed me back to my room and I went back to bed, it was true that I still needed to rest. When I woke up again at ten, my phone rang. 

-”Hey cutie, it’s me, Junpei. You’ve got some plans for today?” 

He sounded rather formal even when asking me that offhandedly 

-”Yeah, I’ll be busy.” 

-”Oh I see, well, see ya then...” -Junpei sounded a little disappointed. At that moment I realized that I had just declined his invitation and felt like it was some sort of bad omen; I had always taken his invitations before without a doubt until now. 

In the middle of January days are very cold, so I wore my favorite angora sweater. Before leaving I gave Ken and the girls their respective chocolates and a fake bone for Koro-chan to play with. I was sitting in the kitchen with a small blue, brown and red origami box in front of me but my mind was not really there. After remembering what happened in Tartarus, I was wondering whether I should give the chocolates away or not, I didn’t know if they had been fighting about me as a girl or as the leader of SEES but hearing Junpei say he didn’t care about me at all had definitely put down my spirits and it made me feel like I really didn’t want to know either way. After seeing that it was almost the time to meet Akihiko-senpai I opened my bag and carefully placed them inside. 

-”What is that box?” Asked Junpei; I had not heard him enter the room but thankfully I didn’t have to give him an answer since Akihiko-senpai entered that exact moment. 

-”Hey, you’re ready? We better get going or else we’ll miss the movies.” 

Akihiko-senpai took me by the arm and guided me outside the place and I couldn’t tell why but it looked as if he had wanted to keep me away from Junpei. Junpei didn’t say a thing but he did look upset because of something, it was truly a very uncomfortable moment. 

\---

Akihiko-senpai and I went to the movies and watched a film about a man that had to travel many years before meeting again with the woman he loved, we chatted about the different situations he had to overcome and I learned that in order to get what you wish for, you must have a strong will. 

-”I still think that it might be pretty sad to take so much time to be with the person you love, I wonder if I could have such a strong will as the main character... Maybe it is all about true love? Like, if the person is the right one for you, you’ll do anything to be with them?” 

We had left the cinema and went to Chagall cafe for a drink. I had asked for a herbal tea, but the strong and heavy scent of the recently grounded coffee beans penetrated my nose and made me think of Junpei a lot. 

-”I don’t know much about love, but I guess that is the case, when you meet someone and start thinking that such person is admirable and you want to be with them, like in the movie. Of course not all cases are the same so I couldn’t really tell.” -Akihiko-senpai sipped on his latte.

-”But, how would you know that the person is the right person? What if they already have a ‘right’ person for themselves? One thing is a movie, but in real life I have seen many cases where they are in love with someone who thinks of another. It really is a complicated thing... Ah! I think my mind is going to explode!” 

I said joking while grasping my head with both hands. We laughed and chatted until evening before starting our way home. 

When we were heading onto the train platforms a couple of girls from school stopped us, they wanted to give Akihiko-senpai some cookies. I guess they had spotted senpai when we were walking around but I found it scary that they had been carrying the cookies all day long even when they didn’t know if they would bump into him; then again, I myself was carrying around the chocolates I had made for Junpei even when I knew well that I would go out this day with senpai. After shooting killing glances at me for a second, they immediately started with the typical scene of the giveaway, but senpai refused all of them without a second thought. 

On the train, out of reach from those girls ears, I couldn’t stop myself of asking senpai why he had refused them so bluntly. 

-”I don’t know any of them so it becomes a burden. Also, they were ogling at your in a manner that I disapprove of.” -Was his answer. 

-”It’s true their behaviour was not polite towards me; but in the end I was with you and for them it might look like I’m a love rival or something.” 

Akihiko-senpai thought about that for a moment. 

-”But I don’t want any of their gifts, because when I accept even one, I must accept all.”   
I stared at him for a second. 

-”So you wouldn’t accept one of mine either now?” 

He looked at me for a second and then blushed and looked away in that way that made me think he was really funny. 

-”I would accept yours, since I know you, so...” 

I was glad to hear that and took out the small blue bag that I had kept in my bag and gave it to him. 

-”It’s not much, but please accept it.” 

I said smiling while he took them. At that moment I thought that probably it had been a good thing for him that not many people were on the train car. 

-”You know senpai, I think the problem is that you don’t get along with girls that much- For instance, you wouldn’t blush so hard when a girl gifts you with something.” 

He looked at me deeply before answering with a serious look. 

-”It’s not because of that that I blushed this way.” 

I went blank for a second, but a moment later I was blushing just as wildly as Akihiko-senpai had a moment ago, it was a relief that the train was reaching our station. 

-”It’s getting darker and cold, let’s go faster.” -Said Akihiko-senpai while taking my hand and leading the way. I was glad that he didn’t turn back all the way home, because I really didn’t know what I would say.

We entered the lounge and were welcomed by Ken and the girls, an instant later, Junpei entered the dorm as well, I was feeling rather awkward about Akihiko-senpai and I think he noticed it because he excused himself and went to his bedroom to practice his boxing style. 

Koro-chan wanted to take a walk that night, he had that pleading look that I could never refuse so I took my sweater again and got ready to take him on a walk. The others were watching a tv show and Mitsuru-senpai was writing down a report as always on the computer. At the last minute Junpei joined me. 

-”I’ve got nothing better to do, I’ll go with you.” 

The shrine was calm and Koromaru was running around happy as ever while we sat on a bench and watched him go around. 

-”So... He did tell you he likes you.” -Was Junpei’s first words. 

His face was looking away from me, following Koro-chan with his eyes, but he had never looked so serious while talking to me before. I knew well what he was talking about. I opened my eyes widely, my face went red and all I could do was look at him. 

-”You see I... It really wasn’t my intention to spy on you. I saw you at the train station but after the scene those chicks made in front of you two I felt it would be rather uncomfortable to step onto the same car; so I went on the one behind yours. And I saw you two through the door window.” 

I couldn’t really believe what he was saying, but it cleared things up as to why he knew about it. I must have made him feel uncomfortable, because he excused himself again. 

-”It’s kinda funny, you know... I told you I didn’t want to talk about anything concerning love right now but I had to ask you about this... I still cannot say if I can love you more than as a friend, but when I saw you with him I felt kind of weird inside and I needed you to tell me what are you gonna do.” 

He had turned to look at me directly and I saw the fierce resolution in his eyes he always used to show when fighting shadows. For some reason he closed his eyes and turned away once more and crouched a little. 

-”You must be thinking I’m the worst kind of guy and I couldn’t blame you, heh...” -It was odd to see him that way, he usually was pretty assertive. 

-”Junpei...” Was all that I could say at that moment. 

I thought about it for a moment, it was ironic indeed that both of us looked for each other’s approval one way or another, he used to stand for me in front of others when in trouble and I used to work hard on my cooking and helping him at school to please him, a thing that I learned from Shinjiro. Even though there were times where I wanted to be closer, it was true as well that I cherished every moment by his side no matter what. Looking back at it, I had never felt sad or been in that sort of shoujo manga situation where the girl is in eternal pain longing for her love. 

Quite the contrary; almost everyday I shared my happiness with him and he had corresponded, in a friendly manner, but still he had done it of his own will. No one had chained us. I knew him well and was certain that whenever he looked at me he was proud and happy of our friendship and that he would stand by my side no matter what. And it was the same for me; even when I wanted something more, there was nothing that would make me part from him. That weird feeling he had probably was because he was afraid of losing me, that Akihiko-senpai would get all my attention and I wouldn’t share my time with him again. I knew that feeling well, since I had felt it before when he started his relationship with Chidori. 

I gently pulled my bag on my lap, and took out the little box full of chocolates. 

-”Studying...” -I said. He turned towards me and waited for me to keep on going. -”You once asked me why I loved studying so much... Since I lost my parents I’ve always been going from one place to the other, I never had enough time to make friends or relate to anyone and the sceneries were always changing. People were kind to me and I was kind to them too, but I had never been able to make any sort of bond.” 

I was unable to lift up my gaze from the box in my lap, but Junpei didn’t try to usher me. 

-“The only thing that never changed were the subjects in the school. No matter where I went, Math would always be Math and History would always be History. I loved that feeling of certainty that a single subject could give me and so I started to focus more and more into it. The school subjects were my friends and companions and there was always a continuity on them I couldn’t achieve in my life. But that changed when I came here.” 

I turned to face him, my hands trembled a little though I didn’t know whether it was due to the cold or the nervousness. 

-”It might sound crazy to you, but you were the first person to approach me with honest intentions ever. It’s true that I met Yukari earlier but it was under different circumstances... You’ve always been an open book you know? For some reason I could tell your kindness was real and not just out of mere curiosity. So I was very happy.” 

Suddenly a strong cold breeze started to come, even before I made a gesture about it Junpei had already rested his arm behind me on the bench to protect me from it. I really liked that winter jacket of his with the brown fur collar, I always thought it made him look pretty cool. 

-“Most of your jokes are silly, but maybe that’s the reason why they make me laugh so much. Specially now, I believe it’s more important than ever to always have something to laugh about..”   
There was a pause, I didn’t really know what to do or say next so Junpei took his chance. 

-“You know I... Yesterday I said something horrible, and I haven’t been able to brush it off my mind. Up there, at Tartarus, Sanada-senpai and I began to argue about you, he likes you so he was angry at me because he said I was playing with you... You know, since everyone thinks I monopolize your time and there are these rumors that we are dating...”

Those rumors had started a long time ago, but by the end of summer vacations everyone pretty much had assumed Junpei and I were in a relationship. I never thought it was going to end up being such a huge thing, specially since Sanada-senpai had only brought it up to me once. 

I turned at him in wonder -”You knew them as well?” 

-”Heh, you’re the only one who never gets notice of any of those things” -He smiled at me with that protecting look I loved so much. 

-”W... Well it’s not like they go and gossip about that right in front of me” -I said while blushing. 

-”I don’t bother about denying it though because it would be just as good as admitting” 

-”Yeah, I told the same thing to Akihiko-senpai, that it would be a waste of time.” 

Koro-chan was joyfully chasing after a stray cat wagging his tail. 

-”Anyway, he really got me to my nerves and I was about to burst in anger so I gave up trying to reason with him and told him what he wanted to hear... I... told him I didn’t care about you at all and that you could be gone tomorrow and I wouldn’t care.” 

He was looking away from me, deeply ashamed and then turned back with a pleading look.   
-”I really don’t know how to put it, but please, forgive me.” 

Looking up at him I realized that our bond was indeed unbreakable. Because he was certain I had heard him he had called me that day to fix things up but Akihiko-senpai had gotten me first. I had been truly struck in the morning but as the day went on I had regained some of my certainty and figured that Junpei would have never said such thing unless he had been cornered, and Akihiko-senpai was the kind of guy who made an all-out attack to get what he wanted. He had certainly matured a lot during the time I had spent with him but maybe if he had heard those rumors that Junpei was playing with me... It made sense now that I looked at it from afar. 

-”You know? I’ve been thinking a lot these past days about my feelings for you as well...” 

A smile was beginning to draw in my face and I standed up in front of him, maybe he thought I was going to confess again because he looked flustered for a moment 

-”Oy...” -He started to complain but my resolved look made him stop at the the middle. 

-”I do like you, and it would make me very happy to be your girlfriend. But I also love being your friend. I cherish all the moments I spend with you and I’d never have it any other way.” I handed out the box of chocolates I had made for him. 

-“You are one of the most important persons in my life. And I will never change that!” 

Junpei stared at my glowing face for a second before realizing what my words actually meant. He slowly started to beam and, standing, took the box from my hands. 

-“Yeah... We will never change that!” 

We smiled at each other while Koro-chan was joining us. Apparently he had gone tired of playing. 

-”Ready for going back Koro-chan?” 

He barked and wagged his tail smiling a lot. While walking home Junpei was beaming again 

-”What’s up?” I asked him puzzled. 

-”Nothing really... It’s just... you know? I knew something great was going to happen!” 

Smiling and talking of many different things, we entered the dorm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is it, heh. 
> 
> Truth be told, this fic had been laying around on my Google Drive for years but I'm not a writer, thus my writing skills can be largely frowned upon by well versed people and there was not such a thing as the Archives before... but see, even though my writing self-esteem might be unexistent I still have always felt that this game has been incredibly underrated. 
> 
> So yeah, this is for all of you people who actually played this game at least once and enjoyed it enough to come search for something more.
> 
> Lots of love.


End file.
